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lil-jinx
Samba Member
Joined: August 14, 2013
Posts: 1654
Location: New Brunswick,Canada
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 Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2025 2:36 pm Post subject: door marker lights |
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just breezing thru the neptune bus tread,I notice that many of the bust are missing the marker light in the door,is that a vw year thing,or are people doing body work and not put the lights back on.
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1974 Bay Westfalia. she likes to be called Ethel.
1968 Dune Buggy sold dec 2024
1974 parts bus
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busdaddy
Samba Member
Joined: February 12, 2004
Posts: 52924
Location: Surrey B.C. Canada, but thinking of Ukraine
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| Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2025 4:22 pm Post subject: Re: door marker lights |
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Door reflectors started in 1970, but were only on North American delivered buses as well as a few other limited markets, most of Europe didn't require them. Same with the rear marker lights.
68/69 models had a round reflector on the fender behind all the wheel wells.
Some "restorers" pave over the holes with bondo and can't be bothered to put them back on.
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Xevin 
Samba Member
Joined: January 08, 2014
Posts: 8751
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| Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2025 6:55 pm Post subject: Re: door marker lights |
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| busdaddy wrote: |
| Door reflectors started in 1970, but were only on North American delivered buses |
Unless your bus was made in North America- Puebla, Mexico 
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lil-jinx
Samba Member
Joined: August 14, 2013
Posts: 1654
Location: New Brunswick,Canada
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NASkeet
Samba Member
Joined: April 29, 2006
Posts: 3220
Location: South Benfleet, Essex, UK
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| Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2025 11:03 am Post subject: Re: door marker lights |
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| busdaddy wrote: |
Door reflectors started in 1970, but were only on North American delivered buses as well as a few other limited markets, most of Europe didn't require them. Same with the rear marker lights.
68/69 models had a round reflector on the fender behind all the wheel wells.
Some "restorers" pave over the holes with bondo and can't be bothered to put them back on. |
They were certainly never required in the UK - United Kingdom of Great Britain * Northern Ireland.
As an additional safety feature, I retro-fitted a set in the late-1970s, to my family's British specification, 1973 model-year, VW 1600 Type 2 Westfalia Continental motor-caravan
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Regards.
Nigel A. Skeet
Independent tutor (semi-retired) of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.
Much modified, RHD 1973 VW "1600" Type 2 Westfalia Continental campervan, with the World's only decent, cross-over-arm, SWF pantograph rear-window wiper
Onetime member, plus former Technical Editor & Editor of Transporter Talk magazine
Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club (Great Britain)
https://vwt2oc.co.uk |
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aquarius
Samba Member
Joined: July 10, 2011
Posts: 15
Location: Boston, MA, USA
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| Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2025 10:25 pm Post subject: Re: door marker lights |
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That's an adorable British-spec red squirrel in the first picture!
Those rear side marker lights get rained on a lot through the air vents, connectors and bulb sockets both corrode. One day I'll get around to hard-wiring little LED arrays in there so they work more consistently. |
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lil-jinx
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Joined: August 14, 2013
Posts: 1654
Location: New Brunswick,Canada
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jtauxe
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 5977
Location: Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
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| Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2025 1:41 pm Post subject: Re: door marker lights |
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Neither of my 2 trucks had the side reflectors from the factory.
The 1978 double cab, originally built with the Ireland export code, got them (plus the extra side markers on the B-pillars) at the refit. That's the one in the Neptune Blue thread. It's front end turn signals did not have the side lights, either.
The 1975 single cab was built for export to Mexico, and also did not have the side markers. I will not be adding them, since I want to keep this one as close to factory as I can. But I am adding some reflective 3M conspicuity tape, held on with magnetic strips.
Also notable is that both of the above trucks came with the "parking light" wiring in the headlights, and have been fitted with H4 headlamps that support the extra bulb.
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John
"Travelling in a fried-out Kombi, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie..." - Colin Hay and Ron Strykert
http://vw.tauxe.net
1969 Transporter, 1971 Westfalia, 1976, 1977, 1976, 1977, 1971, 1973, 1977 Westfalias,
1979 Champagne Sunroof, 1974 Westfalia Automatic, 1979 Transporter, 1972 Sportsmobile, 1973 Transporter Wild Westerner, 1974 Westfalia parts bus, 1975 Mexican single cab *FOR SALE*, 1978 Irish 4-door double cab RHD
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NASkeet
Samba Member
Joined: April 29, 2006
Posts: 3220
Location: South Benfleet, Essex, UK
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| Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2025 5:11 am Post subject: Re: door marker lights |
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| aquarius wrote: |
That's an adorable British-spec red squirrel in the first picture!
Those rear side marker lights get rained on a lot through the air vents, connectors and bulb sockets both corrode. One day I'll get around to hard-wiring little LED arrays in there so they work more consistently. |
Although we have red squirrels in various parts of Great Britain, that particular red squirrel was of the Swedish variety, on a Swedish campsite in 1982; inspecting our 1973 VW 1600 Type 2 Westfalia Continental's Michelin XZX 185 SR14 Reinforced radial-ply tyres for roadworthiness, plus the DIY retro-fitted Wolfsburg mud-flaps and BNC through-bulkhead connector, for the 12V electrical supply to the annexe-tent' poles' clip-on fluorescent light.
Much of Great Britain is now over-run by American grey squirrels (a small minority are white or black!), which like mink and rabbits were introduced many years ago by foolish people. Perhaps we should round them up like other illegal immigrants and repatriate them to their country of origin.
| jtauxe wrote: |
Neither of my 2 trucks had the side reflectors from the factory.
The 1978 double cab, originally built with the Ireland export code, got them (plus the extra side markers on the B-pillars) at the refit. That's the one in the Neptune Blue thread. It's front end turn signals did not have the side lights, either.
The 1975 single cab was built for export to Mexico, and also did not have the side markers. I will not be adding them, since I want to keep this one as close to factory as I can. But I am adding some reflective 3M conspicuity tape, held on with magnetic strips.
Also notable is that both of the above trucks came with the "parking light" wiring in the headlights, and have been fitted with H4 headlamps that support the extra bulb. |
Amber side / parking lights would be ILLEGAL in the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland, EIRE - Republic of Ireland, Europe and probably elsewhere. The side / parking lights must emit white light.
I would expect the lights on the B-pillars, to be direction indicator (aka turn-signal or blinker), side-repeater lamps, which were a factory-fitted option for some countries, including Italy and possibly The Netherlands. I have some purchased in Sweden, for my family's 1973 VW "1600" Type 2 Westfalia Continental.
Early-type B-post turn-signal repeater lamps
Hella 2BA 001 227-211 B-post turn-signal repeater lamps
All of the lighting requirement are to be found listed in the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989/1796/contents
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Regards.
Nigel A. Skeet
Independent tutor (semi-retired) of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.
Much modified, RHD 1973 VW "1600" Type 2 Westfalia Continental campervan, with the World's only decent, cross-over-arm, SWF pantograph rear-window wiper
Onetime member, plus former Technical Editor & Editor of Transporter Talk magazine
Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club (Great Britain)
https://vwt2oc.co.uk |
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70bus
Samba Member
Joined: July 15, 2004
Posts: 1484
Location: P.O.
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| Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2025 11:34 am Post subject: Re: door marker lights |
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Italian spec as well on those side indicators!
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2711161
I've been tempted...
I am still looking for a quality side-marker light for the rear quarters; so many are soft plastic or don't hold tightly to body.
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Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people." - Robert Williams
Raul the 65 singlecab
Karl the 70 nine-seater |
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andrewtf
Samba Member
Joined: August 10, 2011
Posts: 682
Location: Illinois
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| Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2025 11:51 am Post subject: Re: door marker lights |
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Not that its all that unusual, but I just added lights to my front markers - using the same base as for the rear.
It makes me feel mildly safer.
What makes me actually feel the safest is my added third brake light, mounted on the hatch glass - that has a pinhole on the interior side - so I can see, 100% that my brake lights are lit.
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NASkeet
Samba Member
Joined: April 29, 2006
Posts: 3220
Location: South Benfleet, Essex, UK
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| Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2025 10:43 am Post subject: Re: door marker lights |
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| andrewtf wrote: |
Not that its all that unusual, but I just added lights to my front markers - using the same base as for the rear.
It makes me feel mildly safer.
What makes me actually feel the safest is my added third brake light, mounted on the hatch glass - that has a pinhole on the interior side - so I can see, 100% that my brake lights are lit. |
Keep in mind that there are regulations governing the minimum & maximum mounting heights of brake lights, so in the case of a 1968~79 VW Type 2, the auxiliary brake light should be mounted at the bottom of the window-glass or lower.
One could incorporate a tell-tale light in parallel with the brake-lights, mounted in the dashboard instrument panel. This is also useful if one has retro-fitted a hand-operated manual switch for the brake-lights, to warn following drivers that one is slowing down by engine-braking alone, without using the hydraulic brakes.
As yet another safety feature, I have also retro-fitted a matching pair of rear fog-lights, which are mandatory in the United Kingdom for vehicles first registered in circa late-1979 or early-1980.
_________________
Regards.
Nigel A. Skeet
Independent tutor (semi-retired) of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.
Much modified, RHD 1973 VW "1600" Type 2 Westfalia Continental campervan, with the World's only decent, cross-over-arm, SWF pantograph rear-window wiper
Onetime member, plus former Technical Editor & Editor of Transporter Talk magazine
Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club (Great Britain)
https://vwt2oc.co.uk |
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lil-jinx
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Joined: August 14, 2013
Posts: 1654
Location: New Brunswick,Canada
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NASkeet
Samba Member
Joined: April 29, 2006
Posts: 3220
Location: South Benfleet, Essex, UK
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| Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2025 5:31 am Post subject: Re: door marker lights |
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| lil-jinx wrote: |
| Rear fog lights.seems odd at first thought,but makes good sense when you think about it |
I wish my family's RHD 1973 VW 1600 Type 2 Westfalia Continental had been equipped with both front & rear foglamps, when I was obliged to drive through fog (visibility varied between circa 50 to 100 metres) from mid-afternoon to late-evening, on a busy main single-carriageway road in France, during the summer holiday of 1979 or 1980. 
Driving with white-light, 60/55W H4 quartz-halogen headlamp dipped beams, the French drivers were constantly flashing their yellow-light headlamp main-beams as they approached me!
Ordinary 5W red tail lights became virtually invisible in the fog at relatively short distances, so proper 21+W red rear foglamps would have made driving much safer!
_________________
Regards.
Nigel A. Skeet
Independent tutor (semi-retired) of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.
Much modified, RHD 1973 VW "1600" Type 2 Westfalia Continental campervan, with the World's only decent, cross-over-arm, SWF pantograph rear-window wiper
Onetime member, plus former Technical Editor & Editor of Transporter Talk magazine
Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club (Great Britain)
https://vwt2oc.co.uk |
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jlrftype7
Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2018
Posts: 4650
Location: Chicago
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| Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2025 12:50 pm Post subject: Re: door marker lights |
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| busdaddy wrote: |
Door reflectors started in 1970, but were only on North American delivered buses as well as a few other limited markets, most of Europe didn't require them. Same with the rear marker lights.
68/69 models had a round reflector on the fender behind all the wheel wells.
Some "restorers" pave over the holes with bondo and can't be bothered to put them back on. |
Sigh, yeah, I remember my '68 Westy with those reflectors.... 
I should have kept that Bus.... 
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